Is Putin’s Decision on DNR/LNR Passports a “Message to the West”?

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Putin’s recent decree doesn’t give DNR/LNR residents Russian citizenship; it just gives them an opportunity to cross into Russia if they want to. Zak Novak, a US citizen who’s spent 2 years in the former-eastern Ukraine and now works at Novorossiya Today Press Centre, spoke to us about this decision:

Recognising all documents was a message to the West, to McCain, to the Ukraine that these are now our people and we have every right to defend them with this signature of Vladimir Putin. This gives people an opportunity to find protection in Russia.

In response to this decree, Kiev reacted with a decree of its own, calling it “a violation of international law” but is it really? Novak noted:

We all know very well what it means and that Poroshenko now fears that Russia is here to protect us. That’ll put pressure on the EU and Poroshenko to stop the bombing, stop the terrorism, stop killing our children, and implement the Minsk agreement that you all signed. I don’t think that they’ll implement the Minsk agreement; I don’t think so because the Ukraine really doesn’t want that and it will do everything to break it apart. “This is a story of toy soldiers. [Ukrainian] boys die, Poroshenko and [the Ukrainian authorities] send them to the frontline, and as they retreat the Right Sector kills their own guys. That’s good for us, and the Minsk agreement is even better for us because sooner or later we’ll liberate all of our territories because the people want it.

19 February 2017

Sputnik International

https://sputniknews.com/politics/201702191050846275-putin-order-donbass-residents-message-west/

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